Ag Technology Startup Prospera Gains $15 Million In Investments

Prospera recently announced attracting $15 million in its new funding round. This round was led by Qualcomm Ventures, bringing Prospera’s total funding to $22 million. Prospera uses data analytics, artificial intelligence, and computer vision to offer a system that provides farmers with digital tools to help make crops healthier and more profitable.

Investors

Qualcomm Ventures was formed in 200 to make investments in startups that are developing next-generation technologies. The firm has more than 140 companies in its portfolio and has generated outstanding returns, including five exits at over a billion dollars. These include Cruise Automation, Fitbit, Invensense, NQ Mobile, and Waze.

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) manages over $4 billion in venture capital across about 130 companies globally. BVP is known for funding early stages of Blue Apron, Periscope, Pinterest, Skybox Imaging, Skype, and Twitch. It has also helped build IPOs that include LinkedIn, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, and Wix.

Cisco Investments provides more than 40 investment professional who have technology and deep market expertise throughout Canada, China, Europe, India, Israel, and the United States. They have a portfolio of over $2 billion with more than 80 direct investments globally and 35 Limited Partner positions.

Israel Cleantech Ventures is a seed and early stage venture fund investing in Israeli innovation, technology, and sustainability. It manages over $150 million and has completed over 25 investments. They are backed by institutional investors, family offices, and corporations in the United States, Israel, and Europe.

Prospera Information

Prospera is based out of Tel Aviv, Israel and was founded in 2014 by Raviv Itzhaki, Daniel Koppel, and Shimon Shpiz. The company has explained that their digital farming system works to digitize, analyze, and collect large amounts of farm data which allows optimization of every aspect of production.

“Prospera changes our world in the simplest terms; it transforms the way our food is grown. Digitizing farm production will be essential to meeting the challenges of feeding a rapidly growing population, with ever increasing demands for quality and reliability,” said Adam Fisher of Bessemer Venture Partners. “We are excited to work with Prospera’s team as they continue to expand their leadership in the space.”

The chosen technology uses a solar-power sensor and may include a multispectral camera, RGB camera, hyperspectral camera, and video camera. It also includes soil probes, a micro weather station, and scouting app. A hub takes data from all sensors and sources, allowing for 24/7 monitoring of crops.

This new injection of capital is going to be used to add people to customer-facing and delivery teams, provide entrance into further global markets, and deliver services for a larger number of crops,“including making a key shift from indoor farms to outdoor farms, which has huge implications given that 40 percent of U.S. land is farmland,” says co-founder and CEO Daniel Koppel.

With all this information, it is no surprise that the company has received so much attention from well-known venture capital sources. It will only be a matter of time before the funds acquired allow the company to become even more entrenched in the agricultural technology sector.